Operation Timeline
by jcdenton2012
Summary: At the dawn of the 42nd millennium humanity stands at the brink of extinction as the Necrons overwhelm the galaxy. It is now that the Imperial Palace comes under assault from a single deadly enemy whose actions will lead to humanity's salvation at the hands of several unique heroes.
1. The Valkayrie

Chapter I: The Valkayrie

The drizzling soft pattering of rain contined at the South Portico of the Imperial Palace where the stylish high gothic spires of the Adeptus Custodes meet the icy ramparts of the sprawling military fortress and home to the Emperor of Mankind. The Imperial Palace Proper loomed beyond the stone and metal battlements ornately designed with elaborate arches and golden eagle statuaries. Despite the palaces ominous beauty with its red drapes hung over the sides of wondorous stone catwalks the continent sized facility seemed more like a prison than a home for such a powerful creature as the Emperor. This resonance was possibly the result of several spotlights scanning the airspace, watching for looming direct threats to the mountain fortress at the facilities core.

"This is Captain Erda. The South Portico is still clear." Said a woman in wonderfullly engraved golden power armor with a red felt cape slouched over her shoulders. She was young, merely one hundred and ten years old by modern Terran standards, with short red hair covered in a grey clothe hood. By her side were an additional seven guards, Adeptus Custodes, all in golden power armor and all holding bolters. The red banners emblazened with the imperial eagle continued to blow off the porticos first battlements defense walls as the rain turned into sleet and eventually into a snowy slush.

"Captain?" barked one of the guards, motioning out into the distance with his bolter. Erda had to narrow her eyes to make out something, a sliver of darkness, clearly an object, approaching the ramparts.

"This is Captain Erda. Adebta Sororitas. We have an unknown contact at the South Portico. Please respond."

The womans vox cybernetic implant went to static and then shut down. Nothing. The object approaching the ramparts morphed as it moved through a blizzard of white mist. What was once a black speck transformed into a person, a person clad in a grey cloak walking through the icy ruins of the decrepit city that once surrounded the imperial palace.

The meganopolis city that had once surrounded the palace was long since abandoned. Everything within three kilometers of the palaces core citadel was an empty ruin of frozen buildings decaying into the old Terran landscape. It was strange to think that at one time billions of people once lived in this frozen hell. It was strange to think that this frozen hell was once the Himalayan Mountains. But, time reduces all things to ruin. What was once green and beautiful, then became a glowing golden palace, and then eventually in 1,000 years... a decaying ruin.

Metal shutters moaned on rusted hinges as this individual marched through a valley of snow. She had something on her back. It was an object clad in a white piece of clothe, massive, and oddly angled.

"Halt!" yelled Erda. Floodlights flashed along the walls of the Imperial Palaces ramparts, triangulating and illuminating the approaching person.

"I said Halt!" she yelled again. This time a warning shot was issued. Still the person pursued.

"Fire at will!" yelled one of the nearby Adeptus Custodes. Thounds of rounds of bolter shot and plasma rounds erupted the snowfall where the approaching person had been standing. The palace defenders continued firing way past when the threat had clearly been silenced until at last a cease fire had been issued and enforced.

Everyone stood on eage as the smoke and fog from the melted snow misted away revealing the charred and cratered landscape where the approaching individual had once been walking. Erda sighed a sign of relief, and then heard a chuckle.

+You missed+

Erda's eyes light up with fright. Those words were not spoken. They were inside her mind. Suddenly, the rampart to her right exploded in a massive avalanche of stone, mortar, and broken bodies. Twenty Adeptus Custodes in golden power armor exploded like red confitti in mid-air raining blood and meat across their Holy Shrine. Erda looked on in awe and horror, as something, someone, stepped through the remains of the broken palace walls.

+Get out of the way.+

"Who are you?"

+I'm not here for you. So, get out of the way.+

In a display of massive physkr power, every head of every Adeptus Custodes within five hundred feet suddenly exploded regardless of cover or counter physkr training. Bodies fell by the wayside as this unknown person marched forward. Bolter rounds fired from towers slammed into a shield of mental energy. Each round upon hitting this shield of mental power turned into golden mist and ceased to exist as a result of atotamical deatomization. Erda felt a chill go down her spin. This was not a normal physkr. This was... an Alfa? No... this was an Alfa Plus.

"By the throne..." she whispered. The hooded figure suddenly stopped its march, turned, and looked at her. Not just in her direction, but directly at her.

+I know you.+ It said flatly.

"Who are you?" repeated Erda as the Imperial Palace, now aware of the attack, fully mobilized. Alert sirens echoed off into the distance as gunships carrying large amounts of reinforcements started to arrive from planetary orbit and nearby adjacent ramparts. The entire continent fortress of the Imperial Palace was about to go on the war path.

+No... I am wrong. It is you, but we have not yet met. You are the one before the other one. I apologize.+

The hooded figure turned back, breaking its glance, walking forward casually. As this person moved forward past numerous bombed out and burning buildings that formed the previous stone towers of the palace grounds two gold plated Warlord Class Battle Titans emerged flanking either side of the assaulting party. Looming like giants they marched forward towards the mysterious Alpha Physker. Additional palace defenders, numbering three hundred Imperial Guards attached to Adeptus Custodes South Portico Defense Garrison lined the battlements of the interior defense ring. All at once the Titans fired their volcano cannons, the imperial guards in fur coats fired their lasrifles. Bright red energy beams riped through the landscape sharding stonework and masonry with sheer kenetic force. Towers fell, the area between the first defense wall and the second defense wall was reduced to rubble.

"This is Tarsus Major. Hostiles confirmed..." chimed Erda's vox, followed by a brief stop, "I don't believe this... is anyone else seeing this!?"

Erda focused in, her eyes widening as the lone stranger continued walking through the inferno and destruction unleashed by the War Titans and Imperial Guard. Everyone was surprised and mortified. It was now that Erda came to a startling realization. This was not an Alpha Physker. Whatever this was, it was something much, much more powerful.

It was now that the grey cloaked individual reached behind its back and removed the canvas clad object. The white clothe draped away revealing a black and red scyth three times the size of a warhammer and oozing with black/red energy which fell away from the sharpened metal like the essence of chaos itsself.

With the blink of an eye, this person stepped within three yards of one Titan. The scythe was swung in two large semi-cirlces. The golden War Titan bisected into four parts, tumbled apart, exploded into shards of metal as it landed across the remains of several stone buildings. The Imperial Guards looked on in horror as the other War Titan turned to open fire, but in another blink of the eye this mysterious person had teleported above the war machine. The sycthe rotated straight down and a massive beam of red energy tore the Titan straight down the middle. Dozens of additional stone buildings in the beams wake collapsed into ruin as the Titan now bisected fell in two seperate directions, exploding in a hellish inferno from which no man could escape.

The Imperial Guards on the second defense battlements opened fire. In response the mysterious indvidual who had just slain two War Titans teleported before the second battlements. She swung that massive scythe from side to side as if cutting wheat. A mile of stone masonry collapsed killing everyone along the battlements.

Off in the distance glowed the giant Limestone pyramid of the Sanctum Imperialis. The other facilities at the heart of the Imperium such as the Senatorum Imperialis and Astronomican Beacon were off to the sides. All these primary buildings were connected by huge stone causeways elevated into the air along the remains of a long forgotten mountain chain. Other structures, floated lazily between the main buildings. It was a literal golden city.

Fifty Adeptus Custodes formed a phalanx before the sythe wielding stranger. They aimed and they fired, but their rounds merely hit an all powerful mental barrier. With a single swing of the blade these men were cut down and reduced to a gory mess.

More men, more gunships, more powerful weapons of war were funneled into the field of battle. At one point a full squadron of Dreadnoughts backed up by a Heavy Cruiser from the Imperial Navy. All were smitten. All were useless. Until, at last, this stranger entered the Sanctum Imperialis. Two more gold plated Battle Titans, both reduced to flaming wreckage, adorned the Eternity Gates entrance.

The stranger marched forward until posiitoned at the core of the pyramids lobby. Adeptus Costodes assembled on all sides and opened fire. Their weapons were useless. By this point it was quite clear that this person could not be stopped.

In an elaborate display of weapon handling the scythe was spun like a baton and the staff end was slammed into the floor. A mineshaft half a mile deep dissintegrated through solid stone and metal deep into the bowels of the fortress. The stranger levitated downward. The bolter shots still being reduced to golden ash along her mental barrier.

At last the stranger reached the bottom floor of the Sanctum Imperiallis. Numerous tech priest watching, stunned, as she walked past them. More Adeptus Costodes, probably the last line of defense fired at the stranger. They were quickly slain,cut to pieces.

Erda had to run to catch up to the battle. The stranger had wasted no time slaughtering a path of death and destruction right into the heart of the Imperial Palace. She passed numerous dead Adeptus Costodes, cut to ribbons, their golden power armor coated in blood. Eventually, her mind started to registar physker thoughts. They were coming from the throne room.

+Send me back+

+Send me back again+

+I can do it this time+

She rounded the corner and found the stranger standing in the middle of the throne room. Sixteen Adeptus Costodes in Terminator armor lay dead at her feet. A powerful physker field, like a snow storm was active in the chambers. It was quite clear that something, someone, was unfolding reality.

The stranger turned and looked at her.

+I see you are here, and that must mean that the other one is nearby.+

Erda instinctavly raised her bolter, aimed, and was suddenly plowed against the wall by another person. She switched her gaze, and narrowed her eyes. This person, this other person, the blood covering her face, but the short red hair... it was her.

"Don't shoot! This isn't what you think it is!"

Erda pushed, herself, or this other thing that looked like her, away. By the time her bolter had been raised and pointed at the thing which had attacked the palace a massive tremor shook the throne room to its very core. Dust fell from the rafters. Stone pillars collapsed. The vacant non-implanted eye of the Emperors skull glowed bright green. And then... there was nothing. Darkness... Erda felt herself falling. She became cold, then she saw swirling blue lights, and heard a male voice inside her head. It was a broadcasting Pysker, a very powerful one by the clarity of the voice.

+Despite my best efforts this is not something that can be completed under normal circumstances. We have tried 67 times, and it has always ended the same way. Now, I have decided that I will send all three of you back to where it began along with a Pysker fragment of my conciousness. Use this fragment to help the past versions of me finish what we started. Surtur will continue her job, her 68th attempt to alter the past. The other you will pursue her through the quantum rifts.+

"Who are you?"

She felt the voice become begast. It seemed as though he was taken aback by the sudden nonrecognition of his being.

+You will understand when you find me in the past. I don't have time to explain everything now. Just take this imprint... the other me's will understand once they prob your mind.+

Erda felt a spike of pain glare behind her right eye as a large amount of information streamed into her very conciousness. It was like a white-out inside her skull. And then... she passed out from pain.


	2. Purple Haze

Chapter II: Purple Haze

Erda slowly opened her eyes. She smelled, she tasted, dirt, but not just any dirt, this was sandy. With blurred vision she slowly pushed herself up off the ground. Her whole body ached. Every last tendon felt stretched and bruised. Blood poured from an open wound on her scalp. In her throat she also tasted like copper.

Wounded, feeling two broken ribs, she cringed and started to walk forward towards a city off into the distance. It was glowing, in the middle of a desert, like an oasis of electricity. It took a lot of effort, but eventually she came close enough to something that looked like a road, poorly paved, leading towards the city. Blood and vomit clogged her throat as she slouched down, eventually her body gave way and she landed on her hands and knees. She threw up blood, it stuck to the ground. Suddenly, she heard a noise, but was to hurt to move. Through the darkness came a vehicle. Two headlights, it was… some sort of small bus with beads in the front window, and colorfully painted. This vehicle pulled up beside her and stopped. Strange music played inside the cab and was lowered to a whisper as the side door opened with a metal on metal whoosh.

Erda's eyes looked on in a haze as a towering man, muscled, powerful, long black hair, solid green eyes, and a deep intelligent voice spoke. He wore denim jeans and a leather vest over his otherwise bare chest.

_Purple haze all in my brain  
Lately things just don't seem the same  
Actin' funny, but I don't know why  
'Scuse me while I kiss the sky_

"It's ok travellor. I felt you coming through the warp... and it looks like it sure took a toll on your body...Well, I suppose that it's good to see you again Erda. This is... the third time we've met, but by your perception this is merely the first. That will... require... some explaining."

This man reached forward, and touched her shoulder. Some sort of electric pulse arced into his hand. His face, it contorted violently and he fell backwards against the bus. Erda looked at him, his nose bleed, but he smeered it away.

_Purple haze all around  
Don't know if I'm comin' up or down  
Am I happy or in misery?  
Whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me_

"I see..." he started, now looking at her harshly, "So, some Orks are about to come to Terra. And as for you, you're suppose to be one of the three that helps me stop them. Well... this is coming from future me, not past me..."

"At least we aren't dealing with Nazis again..." he chuckled.

"Future you?" she asked, barely concious.

_Help me help me  
Oh no no... no_

"Ah yes, he didn't have time to explain that part did he? Allow me to be blunt... I'm the Emperor. Well... the past him. And this is... Earth, 1967. Based on the Psyker Fragment the future me gave you, it looks like some far-out stuff is about to go down in New Mexico."

Erda looked at him, his soft smiling face. He was kind, she could tell, but... that face. Every single piece of propaganda art ever created depicting the Emperor, it flashed through her mind, it was HIM! It was him... and the year!?

_Yeah  
Purple haze all in my eyes  
Don't know if it's day or night  
You've got me blowin, blowin my mind  
Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?_

"1967?" she asked dully.

"Yep, 38,000 years in the past. And, if you think this is bizzare,I remember how you reacted during WWII, but from your perspective none of that has even happened yet."

That last part made her laugh, briefly, before she passed out again.

_No, help me aw yeah! oh no no oh help me..._


	3. Viva Las Vegas

Chapter III: Viva Las Vegas

Erda slowly opened her eyes and blinked away tears as bright beams of light sharded into the buses interior. It took her a few moments to get her bearings. Slowly, she propped herself up causing a poorly knit afghan to topple off her bare chest. She was naked underneath and her armor was missing, gone, Emperor knows whe...?

"The Emperor!" she yelled out loud, reflecting upon the previous night.

The door to the bus suddenly opened. Erda covered her eyes as the sharp daylight masked her body. Leaning into the bus was the same towering man as before. Except now, he wore a button down shit underneath his leather vest.

"You might want to cover up..." he said. Erda nervouslly pulled the afghan back up her pale body and blushed. It was one thing for the servents of the Adebta Sororitas to be openly barren in the barracks, and quite another to unmask ones body before the Emperor of Mankind. Of course, at the moment, he wasn't so much the Emperor but rather than just another roaming hippi in the Majove Dessert.

The man chuckled and motioned towards a nearby suitcase, "You'll find some things in there that will probably fit you. Once you're dressed come outside and we can talk about your armor."

He closed the door to the bus and Erda heard him walk away. As soon as she was sure that it was safe she tossed the Afghan away, nude, she opened the briefcase. Her eyes narrowed as she browsed the clothing. These were things hardly suitable for a warrior, but what choice did she have?

Erda opened the door to the van and stepped outside. She wore sandals, a pair of cut-off demin shorts, and a tidi tank top. The Emperor was leaning against a nearby car and whistled at her white albino skin as she masked her eyes from the intense sun rays.

"What's wrong? Earth doesn't have a sun in the future? Keep in mind that future me just sends along enough information in that Pysker Imprint for us to do this thing."

She looked at him, nervous, and a little awkward in these embarrasing clothes, "we have a sun, it just looks a little different."

Erda took in her surroundings. This was a city, a town, really a city by current human standards, and they were along a main street. Neon lights glowed along buildings and billboards. The closest one read, 'Frontier.' There were a decent amount of people wondering about. Most wore cowboy hats, suits, denim clothes, shorts, etc. The Emperor pushed himself off the nearby car and dusted off his shirt and vest.

"This way," he motioned with his head. Erda, still slightly embarresed to be wearing such low class demeaning clothing followed the towering man into a car shop. They had evidently been parked in front of this structure for hours. The sounds of grinding, wrenches, the normal odds and ends associated with a future Imperial Guard Motorpool echoed throughout the shop.

The Emperor lowered the doors behind them, and an elderly man with leather like skin, dressed in a blue jumpsuit with the name ‚Phil,' stenciled on it, walked up to them while wipping away dirt and oil from his hands with a rag. "AH! Luther! Its good to see you again my friend."

The Emperor, nodded his head. "Phil, about that favor you owe me... you know that thing I dropped off last night?"

The elderly man smiled fondly, and looked at Erda. He scanned her body from head to toe, and nodded approvingly. "You must be the one that was wearing it?"

Erda felt her heart race. She watched as the old man sweapt back his grey hair and motioned towards a doorway near the back of the office. As a group they walked towards the door and entered a side garage. Old odds and ends lined the walls, but Erda could easily make out some of the more important items. Bolters, but different, older less complex, prototypes? Machine guns, older but beefed up to be more powerful. Flamethrowers? And, her armor, it lay strewn across a table, disassembled. The machine spirit was probably not very pleased.

"Luther? You bring me the most interseting things," started the mechnanic, "And, as for you my dear warrior from the future, it looks like you haven't aged a day..."

"Do we... know each other?" she asked.

The old mechanic unleased a drumming laugh that made his side hurt. He looked at her kindly and raised a single finger in pointing jest as he poked her sternum in a mocking jab, "My dear warriores we meet on Omaha Beach, saved me from a rip old pickle you did, but from your perspective that has yet to happen. Speaking of..."

The old man reached in his pocket and pulled a set of metal dog tags. He looked at her with a wide grin and tossed them to her chest. Erda caught them easily enough and looked at the old mans full name stenciled upon the metal plates, Phil O'Reily.

"In the pas,t when we first meet, you are going to need these. It helps to convince somebody that you are time traveler with something from the future. Oh, and since the old me is something of a sinic the answers are: 32, 17, never, and Sally; also... choose rock."

The old man smiled again and turned back towards the disassembled armor. He nodded at Luther, the Emperor, and started to explain the situation.

"Easily repaired. Two days tops. As for that thing you had me check up on... I have some bad news."

"You mean you found the crash site?"

The old man nodded approvingly, but also glowered, "The US Army sent a large compliment of men to recover the crashed Ork ship. It slamed into a field at a place called Roswell. The good news is that all the Orks are dead so we don't have to worry about a repeat of Stalingrad. The bad news is that the US Army recovered everything, and have taken it to that little research base of theres at Groom Lake. Getting in won't be easy. The US has had Groom Lake under heavy guard ever since they captured those German scientists working on Orks back in World War II."

"Don't worry, I already have it covered. Just focus on repairing that armor. Next time she moves through time it will likely send her to you know where... and we both know that she is going to need it..."

"Ha!" laughed the old man as he eyed Erda, "Yes, we wouldn't want her dealing with Strothman without some heavy duty armor of her own now do we?"

"By the way, do you have any news on the others?" asked the Emperor, his hands on his hips.

Phil nodded approvingly and continued, "Last time I picked up Surtur in our timeline she was at Thermopylae helping the Spartans win against the Persians. Her friend, that giant man in the blue power armor was lending a helping hand. Kind of hard to believe that they both ended up in the same place from two totally different warp phenonmenon. As for the other version of this young woman, her last sighting was at the Battle of Stalingrad, where they both helped us deal with the accursed German Orks."

The Emperor nodded in approval and motioned towards the door, "Thanks for keeping me posted. I know its not easy sifting through Earth's history lessons to find all these people, but it's a big help Phil."

Erda started to follow humanities champion towards the door as Phil went back to working on her armor, sodering electrical cables with delicate care. Together, the Emperor and his servant exited the shop walking towards the parked van, "We're heading to a top secret military base out in the Majove Desert. We need to find our way inside and deal with whatever the United States found from the crash site that's going to screw with our timelines."

"United States? Timeline? I don't understand any of this." Said Erda.

The Emperor looked at her and sighed deeply, "Your future, the one where the Necrons have all but overrun the galaxy, is a byproduct of several key moments in human history. By altering these key moments we can alter the future. From your perspective, humanity has been reduced from a mighty Empire to a mere dozen worlds under constant siege from all sides. The last, literal, bastion of humanity under threat of being eradicated. But, from my perspective non of this has even happened. Every action we correct in the past alters the future in some way. Unfortunatly, we have failed in all of our previous efforts to correct the timeline. This time, there are two you's in the past. Surtur and her traveling companion are also aiding us. As for the United States, is are a nation state that fancies itself a superpower in this part of ancient Earths history."

"And Area 51?"

"Area 51 is a top secret research base controlled by the United States. It was founded during World War II to help with the development of atomic weapons. After World War II it was converted into a top secret Xenos research facility. The German scientists that used Orks during World War II were brought there to continue there research. I don't know what happens there at this moment in history, but I do know that it makes a big splash. If I had to guess, I think that the United States finds a way to weaponize ork spores to some greater end. And that... cannot be allowed to happen."

"So, the United States is some sort of evil empire?"

"That's..." he paused, "Only under President Dick Chenny."


End file.
